Who is Vykk?
by Culf
Summary: Han and Leia on a mission on Corellia. AUEU flashback... Just read and review, and you'll make a little girl very happy...Oh joy, I have updated at last.
1. Chapter I

Who is Vykk?  
  
  
  
Disclaimer: If you didn't know that Han, Leia, the Millennium Falcon and Corellia belonged to George Lucas, not some teenage girl, then I don't see why you should even bother to read this story...  
  
AN: Cursiv is either flashbacks or thoughts. This has not been beta-read, but hopefully, it will be, and then I might change a couple of things. If any of you have ideas for what I should change, then please tell me, and if anyone does something out of character, then I must know.  
  
  
  
Leia was standing in the middle of a crowded street on Corellia, of all places. The place where Han was born. That was about all she knew. She had tried to ask Han, but he didn't seam to keen on telling her about his childhood. When it came to Han, it seamed like the time before they met on the Death Star was off limits. Something not to be mentioned, and every time anyone tried to bring it up, he'd mumble something and take of to check on the Falcon and stuff like that. It annoyed Leia. Much about Han annoyed Leia. His ego, bug mouth, manners, his nicknames for her, the fact that he refused to join the rebel alliance... The list went on for ages, and the thing she hated the most, was that he was always going on about blasting out of the place. Shouldn't she be cheerful? They were never really friends. They were always picking on each other, always calling the other names. Princess... Nerf-herder... Your worshipfulness... Flyboy... She should be dancing and singing the day he left, but she knew she wouldn't. She tried to excuse herself by the fact that he was a good pilot, and the rebels needed a pilot, but she couldn't even fool herself. The truth was, she was starting to like that scruffy looking nerf-herder. Gorgeous looking scoundrel was more like it.  
  
No, Leia thought. I will not think of Han Solo like that!  
  
  
  
  
  
She would not think of him at all. Thinking about a man that wouldn't even tell her about something as innocent as his childhood. She remembered their conversation perfectly well. Leia was sent to Corellia to pick up some information for the rebellion, and she needed a pilot that spoke Corellian. Wedge was on a mission, so Solo had been the only Corellian left. They had conversated half of the 10 stander time parts the flight took, and the princess had finally managed to turn the conversation over to Han's past. No where to run, no where to hide!  
  
She had started out with a question as simple as how old he was the last time he'd been on Corellia.  
  
  
  
"I haven't been there since I was 5." He muttered.  
  
"Really? Your parents decided to move?" Simple question, but unfortunately, the answer hadn't been that simple. Han was silent for a short while, but in the end, he'd seamed to have come up with an answer.  
  
"The decision was mine, really. Kind off, at least. I was too young to know what I got myself into." This had been the part when Leia got really interested. She tried to ask him out, but it somehow seamed like something finally managed to shut his big mouth up. Unfortunately, it was just when she wanted it to stay open. An alarm had gone of, telling that it was time to jump out of hyper space, and Han had left. This was why they had needed him to pilot her, Coreillians were a suspicious people, and they didn't like "outsiders" that much. A Corellian, on the other hand, would have no trouble whatsoever, when it came to getting a landing-permission. Han had landed the Falcon, and followed Leia to the meeting point. She told him that she'd been gone for a while, and he had answered her that he didn't mind. He had things to do as well. When Leia was about to ask what kind of things, he was gone.  
  
Leia had been waiting for Han for half a standard time part, and was really starting to get grumpy. Where was he anyway? Aliens she knew, humanoids and aliens she had never even heard of walked past her.  
  
Then she spotted him.  
  
It was a dark ally, almost invisible to the crowded street, but she was sure that it was Han. She recognized the jacket and the brown hair. She ran over to the ally and tapped the smugglers shoulder. He slowly turned, and Leia let out a gasp. This wasn't Han. The man was much older, his jacket was a deeper blue than Han's, and his hair carried hints of gray.  
  
"I'm sorry!" She stuttered confused. "I thought you where someone else."  
  
"Hey sweetheart." The older man said, eying Leia with great interest. The way he said "sweetheart" made her feel uncomfortable. So did the way he looked at her.  
  
"I'll just go now." She explained, shaking. This was ridicules. An old man like that shouldn't be able to scare her like this. She had confronted Darth Vader. This man shouldn't even be able to make her edgy, but he did. She turned to walk away.  
  
"Not so fast there, darling." He grabbed a hold of her arm. "I think we should get to know each other better. How about dropping into the hotel I'm staying on? I can assure you that we could have a REAL good time." Now Leia was scared! She tried to get away from the man, but this just seamed to make him angry. His iron grip was amazingly strong, and the Princess could feel the tip of a blaster being shoved into her back. She felt like panicking, but she remained her dignity, even if fear was radiating from her brown eyes. He started pushing her against a creepy motel.  
  
Where was Han when she truly needed him..?  
  
AN: I'm back! Now, what was good, what was bad. Any suggestions? Leave a review to let me know... 


	2. Chapter II

Leias heart was beating like a drum. She was getting desperate. She didn't want to think about what would happen to her, but her mind couldn't block out the obvious. iNO!/i Her mind screamed. iNO!!! Don't! Please don't./i She wanted to lose control. Wanted to panic, go mad... Act like any other woman would have in her position. Wanted to scream, slap, scratch, bite, kick... She wanted to hurt this man. She wanted to loose control, but the princess in her was too proud. Her mind kept running trough ways to escape this man, but non of her plans could be pulled off. She was truly helpless, and the feeling frightened her. Not helpless as she had been on the Death Star. Then she had had something to fight for... Something bigger than just herself. Now it was herself she was going to fight for.  
  
The man shoved the blaster into Leias back again, to make her speed up. He didn't want to draw too much attention.  
  
Leia saw the door close in on her. Saw her doom getting nearer and nearer. She was terrified. The door was two feet away. One foot. She was standing next to the door.  
  
"Open it." The man ordered. Leia reached for the lock with a shaking hand.  
  
"'scuse me, mister. May I have a chat with you." A voice behind Leia said. She didn't dear move, in fear of being blasted into oblivion.  
  
"That's it. Now would you please drop that blaster, before I blow your head clean off? Thanks." Leia recognized that voice. She never thought she would hear it again...  
  
"It's all right, your worship. You can turn now." Leia slowly turned to see Han pointing his blaster at the other mans head.  
  
"Now, could someone please tell me what just happened?" "Not you, mister." He said as the man tried to open his mouth. "Leia?"  
  
Leia started explaining, her voice was as regal as always. After what she'd just been through, Solo had expected her to be a bit shaken at least, but that wasn't Leia. She could be scared to death, and you wouldn't see it. All he saw was anger. And that was what Leia felt right now. As the fear slowly disappeared, she could feel anger swelling in her. Once again she felt the urge to hurt this man, and now she had the possibility.  
  
Her stern voice started explaining about how she thought the man had been Han, how she'd walked over. What he had said, and how he tried to make her get into the hotel. She never let any of her emotions surface. The word ice- princess drifted into Han's mind. Nothing but ice could stay as cold as Leia. And even if it freaked him out sometimes, he admired her for it. Besides, she was only the second woman he had ever met that was able to resist his loopsided grin. She was the only woman still alive that had resisted that grin, he remembered sadly. It also reminded him about the one of the rules in his life...  
  
Leia had stopped talking. The mans intentions had been all too clear, for the both of them. To Leias great surprise, she saw that the smuggler tugged his blaster so hard that his knuckles was going white. Did he care that much about what happened to her? No, that couldn't be it. It must have been the fact that the mans intentions had been so disgusting that Han would have reacted like this no matter who was involved. But then again, Han didn't really care for anything, or anyone... That was a lie, and Leia knew it. Han cared... He cared for his ship, for Chewie and Luke, but did he care for her? She couldn't bring herself to believe that. She wouldn't. If he cared, then she would have to care for him too, and she couldn't do that. She couldn't care for someone who would run off as soon as the chance presented itself. She couldn't risk caring for someone she knew she would lose. She had lost too much already. Her father, her friends. Her home... She wouldn't risk losing something loved again, and the only way to prevent that was to refuse herself to love. It was easy, and yet terribly hard. Easy, because all she had to do was act like an ice-princess, to refuse to show any kinds of emotions, 'cause that would prevent people from loving her. And hard because a life without love was terrible. When she grew up, love had been like oxygen to her. All she needed was love, and now she had to go without. She didn't dear breath, of fear that the oxygen would be sucked away after she had exhaled, and when she was about to inhale some of the air around her, there would be nothing. Not enough to a single breath. This terrified the ice-princess. Yet, she hadn't been able to refuse all love. Luke loved her! The teenage crush had faded, but it had been replaced by a brotherly love. A love that Leia couldn't refuse, but returned instead. But she needed another kind of love. The love of a partner.  
  
"Your worship. What should we do with this guy?" Leia was ripped out of her thoughts. Her mind had completely drifted off, and the waking had been quit a shock for her. But no one knew that. No one truly knew anything about her. All the ones that had known her were dead.  
  
"We should turn him over to the custody." She answered in her most diplomatic tone. It was not what Leia wanted to do, but she couldn't afford revenge. She had a reputation, and she had to defend it at any cost. If not for her, then for the rebellion.  
  
"Come on, your worship. This is Corillia. The custody will just let him go. However, I think I know about a proper punishment." A smirk crossed the smugglers lips.  
  
"Would you please take five steps in that direction?" Han asked politely. The man did as as told, his knees shaking while he slowly moved in the direction Han's finger was pointing.  
  
"Now turn around." The man turned, and was now facing the smuggler and the princess. Leia noticed only now that Han's gun was set for stun. She started wondering what he was up to.  
  
Han pointed his blaster at the mans head, and the mans knees almost buckled under him. He, however, remained standing. Han carefully lowered the blaster, and was now pointing at a more "private" area. The others face turned from slightly green to white. Leia couldn't believe what she was seeing. Han surly wouldn't go trough with it? She saw how his finger slowly pushed the trigger, then a blue stun bolt emerged, and suddenly, the man lay twitching on the street, his face clearly showing what kind of agony his was in.  
  
Han turned against the main street. Leia ran over to him.  
  
"You shouldn't have done that!"  
  
  
  
"Why, your worship? It served him right." He didn't seem to understand why it was wrong to stun a mans "private" areas. . Not when the man had wanted to hurt his little princess like that. iNo/i, Han thought. iI will NOT think of her in that way. She's not my little princess. She's the rebellions little princess./i Han had his own rule when it came to royalty and rebels. And, as for royal rebels, then the rule was "Stay as far away as possible." But on the other hand, he had never passed down an opportunity to rescue damsels in distress.  
  
iWhy shouldn't Han have done what he did?/i Leia had wanted to see the man suffer, but he had not done anything towards her, only frightened her. What he hadi planned/i to do was something quite different. A shiver ran down Leia's spine. She knew why she thought Han had been wrong... All her life, she, as the princess she was, had been thought that everything should be solved by the law! But what when there was no proper law? Were you allowed to handle things yourself. She didn't know, and to be true, she didn't care. She wanted to be mad at Han. Because, if she wasn't mad at him all the time, then she would start liking him. Perhaps loving him, and her rules didn't allow that. iNever fall in love. It will only destroy you!/i  
  
"You shouldn't have. You should have given the law a chance."  
  
"I thought I told you. There is no real law on this planet. I should know. I grew up here."  
  
"I thought you moved when you were 5, and that you haven't returned to this planet since." Leia was turning into her usual self again. Fighting with Han was a way to push the incident away, even if it was the incident they were fighting about.  
  
"I haven't." He answered. "And if it weren't for you, you worshipfulness, and your little alliance, then I wouldn't have returned at all. But even if I haven't been here since I was 5, I know how little this planet cares about it's inhabitants. And how little the people here cares about each other."  
  
"Then why did you move? This sounds just like your kind of planet." The princess spat. If she had only known how much that comment would hurt Han.  
  
The smuggler looked at her with cold, brown eyes. If she had only known what this planet had done to him.  
  
"So that's what you think, your worshipfulness?" he said. "Why, you certainly haven't changed in 10 years!"  
  
"I have no idea what your talking about." She answered confused. "We met half a year ago, remember? Aboard the Death Star."  
  
"Maybe, but I know someone who met you back when you were only 8 years old." He said. "And judging by his description of you, then you you haven't changed at all."  
  
"And who might this mystery man be? Another smuggler friend of yours?" She tried to hid her curiosity, but she could be quite nosey at times.  
  
"Yeah, he was. And his name was Vykk Draygo."  
  
Dun dun DUUUN..!  
  
AN: Who is this "Vykk" anyway? Everybody who's read the Han Solo trilogy knows, so I don't think it'll be a big surprise, but hey, not everybody on this site have, right? Besides, it's going to be an EU AU flashback. Wow, that's new! At least I hope it is! Please, review, or all you guys who doesn't know who Vykk is will live on un-illuminated. And the ones who do know *CoughNarya's BaneCough*, I do hope that you wont say anything!  
  
Narya's Bane: Thanks for the compliments! Well, as you see, it's going to be a little Vykk flashback, but it's going to be AU. Hope you'll like it!  
  
Pitdroid: As for the beta-reading, I did warn you. Besides, I'm not from an english speaking country, so go easy on me. English is a language I learn in school, and I'm doing my best, but I still can improve it, and that's one of the reasons for me to write ff. That and evil plot-bunnies.  
  
Lukie's Angle: As you see, no Force to the rescue, only Han. I just love it when he rescues damsels in distress. Makes me wanna be a damsel... *Sigh* 


	3. Chapter III

Disclaimer: Does it *look* like I own Han Solo? Didn't think so. AN: Instead of making this chapter a Han monolog, I'll write the story in the way it happened, 'cause I suspect that Han ain't the best of storytellers... Besides, I'll bet he'd leave out a couple of details anyway, and I don't want that, do I?  
  
Vykk Draygo was still a bit shaken after the pirate attack on his ship. His co-pilot, Muuurg, was hurt, but the Aldreaan healers should get him fixed in no time...  
  
Now Vykk had two choices. He could take a walk in one of the many parks of Alderaan, or he could sell his shipment of glitterstim, telling the Ylesians that it had been stolen.  
  
Vykk knew what he wanted to, but spice-selling on Alderaan was risky business. He could end up in the spice mines on Kessel, and that was not the kind of future he had planned. He had a third choice as well, but being as broke as he was, there was no point in going to any bar. It wouldn't have surprised him if Sabacc was forbidden too... Lousy planet!  
  
All this was the reason for Vykk to walk a path in a very green park. It did not suit him at all... He was a pilot, not a gardner, or whatever it was called...  
  
He was about to return to his ship when he noticed a little girl a few feet away... She had long, dark hair, and it was braided in a bizzar way. Vykk found it cute, somehow.  
  
He didn't really care about the girl, until he saw a boy approaching her. He started pulling her hair, insulting her.  
  
The little girl tried to come up with an answer, but all she said was "Stop it, or I'll.."  
  
"You gonna do what, you majesty? Run to your father..? Making your father ship my father to the mines of Kessel? Your nothing, little princess, nothing but a little girl, and a girl can never be the leader of Alderaan. Woman don't make leaders. Woman makes mothers and wives, and you're NEVER gonna rule ANYTHING."  
  
"Oh yeah, " the girl replied. "Says who?"  
  
"My father. And my father is always right!"  
  
This was when Vykk found it proper to interfere...  
  
"'scuse me, mister. May I have a chat with you? Thank you." The boy hadn't even had time to reply. Vykk noticed that the boy was about 10 years, but the girl seemed a little younger. He seemed to recognize the girl, somehow...  
  
"You see," Vykk said, looking down at the boy. Being 9 years older and quite a bit taller than his opponent was a pretty good feeling. "if your father really is a pathetic little man who thinks women can't be leaders, then I feel sorry for the woman who married him. The fact that you believe every word he says just makes you pathetic too, because it proves that you don't have the brain to think for yourself. In that case, I shall be nice to you, as being a mindless brat is not really your fault, and that you can't do anything about it, but if you EVER bully another girl again, then I'm gonna bring my blaster, and I wont mind if I'll be shipped to the mines of Kessel, if I get the chance to roast what brain you have before I'll get caught. You understand me?" The boy nodded, terrified.  
  
"Good. Now, beat it!" The kid took off, running as fast as his short legs would carry him. Vykk turned towards the girl, whom he recognized from the holo message he got when he landed on the planet. It was, without doubt, the princess of Alderaan. Vykk was surprised to see anger on her face.  
  
"Why did you do that? I could have managed myself. Besides, threatening someone is WRONG!"  
  
"Sorry, your worshipfulness. I was only trying to help, but nothing seems to be good enough for you, now does it? Is all royalty like you? I certainly hope not, cause then I have to reconsider me plan about marrying a rich princess." At this, red spot of anger flecked the girls cheeks, and she would have said something, had her mouth not opened and closed so furiously, without making a sound. Vykk just glanced at her, before he turned his back on her and strode away iWhat a nightmare./i He would never interfere with royalty again. Not if they were all like this.  
  
Leia remembered. She had been a little girl, and Davrham had never picked on her after the incident, but it still wasn't right to threaten kids. But on the other hand, Davrham would have used any excuse to take her right to the throne, and her job as a senator, had he tried. But he never tried. She had the sneaking suspicion that Vykk had put the fear of the Force in him, but for some reason, she couldn't place a face on this Vykk. Nothing. She remembered him walking down the path, in a lizard-skin coat, the empty holster of a blaster on his thigh, but neither a face or a voice could be remembered. And she didn't have time to think about this now, it was a matter for later. Now, it was her mission that mattered.  
  
AN: Thank you so much to all who reviewed. I am halfway done with the next chapter, so don't give up on me. I will finish! 


	4. Chapter IV

Who is Vykk?  
  
Author: Culf Disclaimer: Come on. Would you even be here if you didn't know all about Star Wars, and that it was made by George Lucas, who owns it all? I wasn't even born when the first movies where made!  
  
After returning from a successful mission, Leia decided to do some research. She had the means to do so, and ignorance could cost more than the time it took to find out what you needed, so she contacted a friend in the archives, and arrangements were set.  
  
Three days later, she visited her friend, Mindreda, from Dantooine, a fair skinned, blond woman with short hair. She could not be called beautiful, but was certainly beyond ugly.  
  
"Greetings Min. You've got my information?" She asked, sitting down in an empty chair. "I most certainly have." She smiled. "You have a way of picking interesting people to gather info about." "What have you got?" Leia said, trying to sound as if it did not matter, like it was just the ordinary day to day research.  
  
"This Vykk sounds like a real hero, if you ask me. The earliest records he has is about ten years old. He was a pilot on Ylesia.." She didn't get further before Leia interrupted her.  
  
"Ylesia? iThe/i Ylesia? The one with the spice factory running with the help of slave labor?"  
  
"The very one." Min smiled. How she could smile at something like that was beyond Leia. "But it seems our friend wasn't too fond of slavery. He saved a couple of slaves, among them Bria Tharen. Without this guy, we would never have had the plans of the death star, and that ithing/i," she filled the word with as much disgust as human possible. "would still be around, blowing up planets. But that's not all. As you know, there was Hutts mixed into the economic part of the Ylesian factories, and they didn't like the fact that he saved the girl, and blew up parts of the factory, so a bounty was set for his head. A couple of months later, he was killed by a man named Shrike, but Shrike was also killed in the confrontation." iSo he was dead,/i Leia thought. To her surprise, it saddened her. A man she had hardly known, but he had done a lot of good in his short life. He had been no older than she when he died.  
  
"There is more. When I tried to look up some info, I came across someone else who had tried to as well. It is a girl from the rebellion, and she is stationed in this base. She might know something more." Min said, dead serious. Why, Leia didn't know, but as always, knowledge you never thought you'd need might come handy when you least expected it.  
  
******  
  
"Hey, I'm Avia, you must be princess Leia. It's an honor to meet you." The tiny woman shook her hand, obviously nervous, as she didn't know what this meeting was about.  
  
"Good day, Avia. Why don't you take a seat?" Leia offered, trying to make her feel at ease. "Now, the reason for this meeting is that I discovered that you have been searching for information about a man called Vykk Draygo. There is nothing wrong with that, but I've been trying to gather information about this man myself, and I couldn't find anything about him from when he was younger than 19, and I wondered if you knew anything." She finished, looking straight at Avia, who seemed to be rather relived."  
  
"The reason for you nothing finding anything about him from before he was 19, is that he didn't exist until then." Before Leia managed to say anything, she continued. "You see, Vykk wasn't his real name, and I wanted to make sure he was who I thought he was. Maybe I should start at the beginning?" Leia nodded, and she continued. "You see, when I was young, no more then 4, I was a beggar. I sat on the streets of Corellia, trying to get a meal, and somewhere to sleep, because if you fall asleep on those streets, you might not wake up." Leia looked horrified, but she didn't say anything. "One day, a man walked up to me, and offered me a place to live. His name was Garret Shrike, and he was captain of the iTraders Luck/i. Even now, I fear the ship, but then it was my only home. Shrike had lots children on that ship, and they were all working for him. He trained them, the youngest to be beggars, and the older kids was trained to be thieves. When I was 10, a young boy was brought in. He was no more then 5. I can remember how terrified he was, but how he refused to cry. How I remember it, I don't know, 'cause there were so many kids brought onboard, but somehow, that moment still lingers. And when he grew older, he grew though. He was among the few who stood up to Shrike, and he paid dearly for it, every time. I don't think any other kid on that ship took as much beating as he did. But he was lucky. A wookiee named Dewlanna was on that ship, because her husband, who was then dead, had been in debt to Shrike. She could have gone home, but she stayed to protect the kid. She turned out to ba a substitute mother for him, and he wouldn't have made it without her. I remember once, when he was 17, he had been in a race. You see, Shrike discovered that he was a great pilot, so instead of steeling, Shrike signed him up on lots of very dangerous races. Something very much like pod racing, if you've ever heard of that." Leia nodded. She had heard of pod racing, and it was supposed to be very fast, and very dangerous. It was a wonder this Vykk had survived for as long as he did.  
  
"The thing is, he was good at it, very good. And it made him arrogant. After one race he had won, he went to far when talking to Shrike. He couldn't walk for a week." Avia took a deep breath." And finally, he decided to escape. From what I heard, he was caught, but Dewlanna showed up, and a fight emerged. Dewlanna sacrificed her life for him, and he went to Ylesia." Leia couldn't help but feel sorry for Vykk. He had had such a rough life, and when he had tried to help her out, she had yelled at him! And half a year later, he was dead. There was nothing she could do about it.  
  
"I know the story from here. About the Ylesian spice factories, and the bounty hunter, and how he and Shrike killed each other. And Bria Tharen." Leia was even fighting back tears, but she didn't know why. She had hardly know the man, why did it matter so much to her? She couldn't even remember his face! She did remember that he had a soothing voice, but she couldn't recall it.  
  
"You think you know the story, but it doesn't end there. You see, Shrike knew what his real name was, and when the bounty was set for Vykk Draygo, who no longer excited, he knew where to find him. He checked records, and found out that Vykk had enrolled in the imperial academy. There, he tried to kill Vykk, but somehow, it was someone else who ended up dead, with Vykk's identification papers. Who I don't know but Vykk still lives." This made quite an impression on Leia. Vykk was alive, but an imperial?  
  
"I know what you're thinking, but don't worry. He's not an imperial anymore. He was thrown out for saving a wookiee, and turned to another profession."  
  
AN: Mwahaha... This would have been a much better cliffhanger if everybody had no idea who Vykk is. (Clue: Find some dictionaries, and look up the norwegian word for HE. (as in, "that guy over there, HE is so cute", or "would you look at that, isn't HE a beauty?)). Now review, or I wont update, and this'll be the mysterious end. (AKA: I wont spell it out for you, literally. H-I-S N-A-M-E I-S ...) I wont update if I don't get any reviews, and that's a fact! 


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